Have you ever tried to telephone the IRS? Did you ever try to get an appointment for a COVID vaccine? If so, you know the difficulties of achieving what you are seeking.
The government could provide a solution, at little cost and with a great amount of benefit. The solution could be very simple. The government would establish a publicly used appointment system, available to all on the internet.
The system would be initially established for use by government departments. Thus, if you wanted to phone the IRS, you would go online and access the appointments for the IRS. If you registered to use the system, your names, address, phone number and other pertinent information would be filled in automatically. In return, you could select a date and time to speak to an agent. You would have an appointment.
To make certain you would keep your appointment, you would be charged $3, refunded if you kept your appointment. When you called in to keep your appointment, the system would tell you if you would have to wait any time. If you wanted the system to call you back, you could get that. You could go shopping and get a call on your cell phone. You could attach documents to your appointment so the agent would understand why you were calling, and the agent could forward your appointment to a specialist.
The system could be used by any government department (federal, state, or local) but could also be used by businesses. The information couldn’t be used by the government unless the business so authorized. The system would be flexible enough so that businesses could add entries in the form for their own particular use.
In other words, doctors could use the system. And so could hospitals, construction companies, bus lines, bakeries — you name it. The basic idea would be to devise a system that could be used by any institution for the benefit of its clients. There would be a national computer system that would keep track of all appointments. The appointment schedules for each institution would be private.
Who pays for it? The users. Businesses using the system would pay a small fee through this phone provider. Users who failed to keep an appointment they made would pay a small fee.
By creating such a system, the government can improve its own functionality as well as that of the society. Just think of it. If we had such a system in place now, we could provide COVID vaccine with little waiting in line. Patients would sign up ahead of time for their shots
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